Sarah Ovaska-Few

About the author

Sarah Ovaska-Few, former Investigative Reporter for N.C. Policy Watch for five years, conducted investigations and watchdog reports into issues of statewide importance. Ovaska-Few was also staff writer and reporter for six years with the News & Observer in Raleigh, where she reported on governmental, legal, political and criminal justice issues.

Sarah Ovaska-Few's articles and posts

The past year was a whirlwind for the state’s acclaimed public university system, beginning with the surprise ouster of its much-respected president and ending with the selection of a successor whose career has been deeply steeped in national ...

The tumultuous political changes that have swept over North Carolina this decade have not spared the state’s public universities. The 17-campus UNC system stands out nationally, especially in the South, for its quality, affordability and independence. It boasts ...

David Turner’s spine and back issues cause him nearly constant pain and distress, keeping him inside his house most days and unable to meet with clients for his web design business or care for his two children. A ...

An online college granted money in the last state budget is facing snags enrolling North Carolina students. Western Governors University stopped accepting students from North Carolina this fall because it hasn’t yet gotten the required approval from the ...

Things will be different in 2016 for the state’s public higher education system, now that a new president for the University of North Carolina system has been named and the beleaguered chair of its governing board is gone. ...

The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors is poised to select the next president of the UNC system tomorrow, capping off a tumultuous search to find a new leader for the state’s prized university system. The search ...

Aldona Wos may no longer be the Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, but there’s still plenty of interest in how she ran the agency. In particular, a federal grand jury wants to know ...

North Carolina is on the verge of privatizing its Medicaid system, the $14 billion program that provides health care for 1.9 million of its most vulnerable residents — low-income elderly, children, pregnant women and disabled persons. The major ...

Public education didn’t see the deep annual cuts that have become almost commonplace in recent years, as a proposed $21.7 billion budget from Republican state leaders was made public and faces likely passage this week. Lawmakers in the ...

As a slate of appointed leaders get closer to appointing a new head of North Carolina’s higher education system, details continue to trickle out about the January decision to get rid of its current president, Tom Ross. John ...